Is the note Victoria (Julie Andrews) sings in her nightclub audition a B-flat? And would it really have shattered the club owner's wineglass as depicted?
share"D-flat."
shareThat ability has been attributed to Enrico Caruso among others, though mostly by the "everybody knows" channel of communication. However, it was successfully demonstrated by one Jaime Vendera in Mythbusters episode 3/11.
shareRobert Preston says "B Flat." I was curious if that was really the note, and tested it with a chromatic tuner. It showed up as A sharp, in other words, B flat. I think Mythbusters did a segment on opera singers breaking glasses, but can't remember the result.
shareIt's not the pitch of a note on the standard musical scale that matters. It's the harmonic resonance of the glass, and that can vary given the material and manufacture of the glass. That is part of what Mythbusters tested on their very interesting episode. It also takes considerable volume, as in amplification. It is highly doubtful the human voice could produce sound waves strong enough to break glass without a boost of some sort. Possible, but not plausible. That was also part of the Mythbusters test.
shareIt has actually been done, although rarely, and you're right: you have to have considerable power (like "opera singer" power) and you have to match the resonant frequency of the glass, which also includes the amount of liquid in it. I was reading an article a couple of days ago, and apparently it's easier to do if the glass has some flaw like a tiny chip or crack, or if there is some stress in the glass that didn't ease during the cooling process. Those things can introduce a weak spot that serves as a point of failure.
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